Ex parte Rodney Reed

Will the CCA grant Rodney Reed relief in his latest habeas bid?

Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Division: Appeals & Post-Conviction

Where the case stands

After the U.S. Supreme Court declined in March 2026 (over a Sotomayor dissent) to revive his federal DNA-testing suit, Reed filed a further habeas application before the CCA that includes new sworn declarations from former coworkers; law-enforcement and prosecutor organizations have filed amicus support urging DNA testing and judicial review before any execution. No hearing or ruling date is set.

Background

Texas death-row prisoner convicted in 1998 of the 1996 rape-murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites. His innocence claim — built on a claimed consensual affair with Stites and an alternative suspect, her fiance — has drawn years of national coverage, celebrity advocacy, a near-execution in 2019, and a Supreme Court case over DNA testing.

Charges

Capital murder (Bastrop County, 1998 conviction); sentenced to death

The arguments

Prosecution/State: DNA evidence tied Reed to Stites at trial; state courts have repeatedly rejected his innocence, Brady and false-testimony claims, most recently after a 2021 evidentiary hearing, and the state maintains the conviction is sound.

Defense: Reed and Stites had a consensual relationship; new declarations from coworkers corroborate it; suspicion points to her fiance; the belt used to strangle her has never been DNA-tested and testing plus the new declarations warrant relief.

The record

SCOTUS argument audio. Full oral-argument audio and transcript of Reed v. Goertz publicly posted by the Supreme Court.
Published court orders. CCA stay order and 2023 opinion denying the prior application are public.
Public filings. Habeas filings and amicus briefs publicly reported and hosted by news and death-penalty archives.

The line-setting read at the time this market opened

The CCA denied Reed relief in 2023 after the trial-court hearing, and subsequent writs face a high procedural bar — but the new declarations plus unusual law-enforcement amicus support give this filing more institutional weight than prior rounds.

Awaiting decision — The CCA to act on the latest habeas application — deny it under the subsequent-writ bar, remand for review, or grant relief. The ruling is posted here, and on the board, the moment it's confirmed by two or more independent news organizations.

Take the bench →

Sources

Public record

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